While reading a recent GQ thread, I got to wondering…
I love seafood. I love all kinds of seafood, including many of our tasty shellfish cousins.
That being said, what’s the big deal with lobster? People regularly pay beaucoup bucks for this “delicacy.” My issue? It’s surprisingly mediocre. It’s almost always served basted in fats and seasonings. What’s the point? If it is worth the price, it should be delectable, more or less, on its own.
Do people only like it because it is expensive? Or am I just some bumpkin whose tastes are merely too provincial?
It’s about my favorite food of all time. Just dipped in clarified butter, lobster bisque, lobster rolls, stir fried lobster with ginger and scallions, I love it all. I mentioned in another thread that I’ve started fishing for lobster by kayak, which is a pain in the ass, but pretty friggin’ awesome which you catch one.
I love lobster. There’s something unique about the texture, flavor, color etc. It’s viscerally satisfying in ripping that carapace apart. It doesn’t help that a good garlic, lemon butter sauce is like heroin to me.
Lobster has a slightly bitter taste to me. I don’t really see lobster as the ultimate or tastiest non-fish seafood. Shrimp, prawns, and sea scallops all have a cleaner and sweeter taste to me.
I’m referring to dishes like lobster thermidor, lobster newberg, lobster bisque, and many of the other classic recipes that all seem to involve either tons of butter/cream or cheese or both. Also in indirect reference to the fact that it is often served with a bowl of butter in which one is meant to dunk it.
I agree. I would much rather have shrimp over lobster. If the restaurant is good, I will have scallops, but many less expensive restaurants tend to cook those into inedible rubber. As far as non-piscine seafood goes, though, I’m a larger fan of clams, oysters, and mussels. Although those are molluscs, not decapods.
As far as the decapods go, I would say my favorite is crab (tastes good to me even with very little or no seasoning), which is another expensive meat and again, it is not so overwhelmingly delicious as to justify the (usually) high price. Luckily, the town where I live now specializes in crab so, if I get a jonesin, I can find it for pretty cheap.
I know this is one of those deals that boils down to personal preference, hence placing it in IMHO. I really appreciate hearing what others have to say about it.
ETA: Those of you who like/love/can’t-live-without lobster, would you say the happiness/good juju derived from tasting lobster is sufficient to justify paying top dollar? Does shrimp just not do it for you?
I hardly ever pay for it because I’m on a limited budget, but I’ll splurge occasionally. Even if I can’t catch the damn things, I can still buy them freshly caught and live at the fisherman’s market. I also forgot to mention lobster burritos from Puerto Nuevo!
I love lobster, boiled and broken open and eaten as is or maybe dipped in a little drawn butter. Can’t imagine seasoning it.
One of my most memorable meals was when a friend and I dropped in on her parents, who lived on the waterfront in Marblehead, Massachusetts. They said they didn’t have anything to offer us except maybe some canned soup, and then Mom thought, Why don’t you go check the pots? Dad says, Aw, not lobster again. Mom says, Well go look, and the kids can have lobster and we’ll have soup. Dad says, Hey, great, goes out in a rowboar and in ten minutes comes back with a dozen lobsters. I had three, and they were wonderful. Mom and Dad had the Campbell’s.
Another memorable meal was while traveling on business in Boston. A three pound lobster. Mmmmmm.
And an amusement. A friend and I ate at a local “Allison’s” franchise - sort of a fern bar, not very fancy. The waitress said the special was “three to four pound lobsters”. We were amazed, asking if they brought it out on a leash, etc etc. Waitress didn’t see what the big deal was but went back to check. On returning she says she’s supposed to call it “a three quarter pound lobster”. Apparently the distinction between “3 - 4” and “3/4” was lost on her.
To me, shrimp and lobster taste nothing alike (rock shrimp comes close). A fresh, properly cooked (I like mine just past rare) lobster is way more better than any shrimp I’ve ever had. Grilled or steamed in wine, it don’t get much better.
I dive though, and have had them water to plate in about 45 minutes. If your only experience with lobster is from chain restaurants or frozen, it’s just not the same.
I love lobster. IMHO, drowning them in drawn butter is a waste, as the flavor of the fat overwhelms the lovely, mild sweetness of the lobster meat. Very (and I mean very) lightly seasoned, and then just a squeeze of lemon juice, and I’m good to go.
Of course, if said lobster is stuffed with crab imperial, all the better!
This is not to say I don’t enjoy a good lobster bisque or lobster thermidor, but the best lobster is steamed, and just spritzed with fresh lemon.
By the by, I’ve never been able to bring myself to try the “Lobster Bites” at Long John Silver’s. Anyone?
If cockroaches tasted that good, I’d eat them, too.
As it is, I’m allergic to shellfish and have been for more than half of my life. The last time I ate lobster, in fact, was when I was 13 or so and visiting family friends in Maine. Now, just being in the same room as those hibachi tables at Japanese restaurants, if they’re cooking shrimp, will have me wheezing in no time flat.
~sigh~
I hate all you lobster eaters.
Don’t even get me started on how much I miss soft shelled crab.
Lobster is a status symbol. It’s delicious, but yes, I think it is overpriced. However, didn’t Long John Silver’s sell fried lobster bites or something a little while back? Your guess is as good as mine if they were using real lobster.
EDIT: Sorry, norinew, you mentioned the lobster bites first!
This is why I hate having to crack them open at some restaurants. It’s just a hard carapace that reminds me of eating an insect. But then again I’m squeamish to ugly little bugs.
My dad was telling me that when he was younger, pasta used to be a “poor person food” as well. Now we see that most pasta dishes, like a simple chicken and linguine dinner at, say, the Olive Garden, are in the upper echelon of meal prices. Eating pasta is “dainty” I suppose, because it takes a level of dexterity and elegance to twirl and eventually place a bite into your mouth.
I was reading an article on tips to get the most out of your money at buffets, and the number one tip was to avoid the pasta bar. Pasta costs virtually nothing in bulk, something around $0.27/pound. So eating pasta fills you up faster and also provides the restaurant with the widest profit margin. It’s sick.